So the power cable of my PC stopped working and I’ve had to replace it, and looking around our stash of spare cables I found one, but this one says 10A=250v whereas the original cable was 10A=125v. I’m just wondering if this is important and if I should only use same A=V cables? Because I plugged it in and my PC works just fine but I’m a little concerned it might damage something internally.
In: Technology
It is **potentially** harmful:
An AC adapter for a device eg a laptop will have two sets of numbers: input and output. There’s also a polarity indicator. I’ll skip that part.
The input is what the AC adapter can take from the wall. The voltage ie the 125V or 250V is typically the voltage the adapter needs or can accept. The current ie the 10A is how much current the adapter pulls from the wall.
You adapter can most likely accept up to 250V wall voltage before the adapter gets damaged.
The output voltage is what the adapter sends to your device (usually DC, not AC otherwise you wouldn’t need an adapter). It should have a voltage and a current as well. The voltage is what the adapter sends to the device; if that output voltage is higher than what the device can accept, you can damage the device.
The current is the max current the adapter can provide; if it’s lower than what the device needs, often the device won’t work or won’t work properly.
Let’s take a laptop I have as an example. My laptop says it’s rating is 19V, 3.42A. I have the originals adapter which matches that perfectly. I also have a second adapter that has an output of 19V and 4.74A. The current rating on the second adapter is higher that what the laptop needs, and that’s fine; the current output is the MAX current the adapter can supply. If my laptop needed 6A, the adapter wouldn’t be able to provide enough current.
However, if the adapter had a voltage output a 20V, 25V, etc, anything higher than 19V, it could damage the laptop. If the voltage output were lower than 19V, the device probably wouldn’t work right but most likely wouldn’t be damaged (no guarantees tho!).
I’ve destroyed a device or two (fortunately only small easily replaced devices!) by connecting them to AC adapters that had a connect that fit the device but had too high a voltage output for what the device could take.
The C13 power cable that plugs into the back of most computers uses a standardized connection. Almost all cables that fit this shape will perform just as well as others. Note, some companies provide extra heavy duty versions for high power applications (High power gaming rigs for example). Reference Link: [Cables To Go – Connector Guide](https://www.cablestogo.com/learning/connector-guides/power)
Usually you will see some variations between US manufacturers and International suppliers. America runs off 120v from the wall, while nearly everyone else runs 240v. Since they supply roughly the same power, a cable designed for US will say 10A at 120V, and 10A at 250v internationally.
When it comes to smaller devices and USB chargers. It’s a little trickier, but usually works for a while anyways as long as it is enough power. Not enough power and it won’t be able to activate or run the device. If you have too much power their is a chance of component failure, and either a grounded circuit or a short with that burnt smoke smell. So, it’s really good to try and stick around the same power ratings as the manufacturer intended.
USB follows a standard specification, so these are all interchangeable, but should still try to match a little for better performance and battery life.
Is it just a cable? Is it a power supply? Are you in a 120v mains country or 240v mains country?
If it’s literally just a power cable (e.g. not a laptop power brick or whatever) then that’ll be fine–it’s saying that the cable will work at anything up to 250V and 10A, and since you’re using it on a lower voltage than that, it’ll be good.
Latest Answers